Thirteen Steps -2- The Noose
by Valyssia
In Between the Spaces
[reviews]
Description: Season 8 - Willow is able to escape Amy and Warren without the help of the Alpha Team. Though, the victory comes at a cost.
Author's Notes: A significant portion of this chapter quotes directly from canonized material. Those of you that have not been following the S8 comic will notice that this story seems a bit choppy. It's intentional...I was woed to describe every detail of the comics. It just seemed like bad story telling to me. There's a time jump right after Willow faces off with Amy. If you aren't savvy to the details you'll find a nice overview in a dream segment that comes in the next chapter. I did this so that it wouldn't be tedious for those who were following...yet it gives those who aren't enough material that they won't be bloody lost.
Disclaimer: Buffy, Willow and all things Slayer belong to Joss Whedon and the good folks at Mutant Enemy.
Feedback: Any and all reviews will be welcomed. Feel absolutely free to tell me just how much you think I...ummm...errr...inhale sharply.
Willow sighed, shook her head and grinning coldly growled, "Oh, Buffy. You really need to have every square inch of your ass kicked." She watched the Slayer assume a combat stance as the retort rolled off her scowling lips, "Then show me what you got. And I'll show you what a Slayer really is." This was going to be painfully easy, Willow mused, drawing back to strike Buffy...
A shudder wracked Willow's body as she jerked awake. Looking around, she tried to take in the details of the room. She was painfully cold; her body wet and sore. The bedding was heavy with perspiration. She sat up, working to right herself as she coughed back just a hint of bile in her throat.
It had been well over two years and she still couldn't escape the occasional nightmare. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and flipped on the light next to it. What time is it anyway? Growling a bit internally...12 midnight... This inhales sharply! Well, not much for the sleeping now, she thought. Shower, clothes, people...preferably in that order, and she set out to do just that. One of the sisters has to be up and free, even at this hour. "Goddess, I need some coffee!" Willow groaned to herself.
She shed her damp pajamas and turned on the tap, waiting for the shower to heat up. Once in, some of the stress started to peel away with the warmth and steam. It was going to be a long, terrible day. She just knew it.
The coven had been working since her return, in the wee morning hours of the previous night, to assess the nature of the evil that was stirring around her old home. It was very unsettling to say the least. Sunnydale: still home of the big brewin' evil... Willow sighed with this thought.
The mystical convergence that had made her old home so much the party town for every creep and goulie in the underworld had been shut down, but there was something still distinctly bad about the crater that remained. Willow could reach out and touch it if she focused hard enough. The spell she had cast had only been a means to combat the threat. It did not dissolve the evil mojo of the place.
Spike's part in this was less clear. He'd worn an amulet that actually caused the Hellmouth to fall in on itself sealing the doorway for good, but without knowing more about the item, it was difficult to say what the side effects might be. Magic always came with these troublesome side effects. Big or small, any force exerted on the natural order of things always came with a cost, or worse, a gift with purchase, as Anya had put it.
I miss Anya. She had such a knack for going straight to the jugular no matter what the subject. Sometimes having that all too honest perspective was valuable. Cutting to the heart of the matter; consequences be damned... Most times it was dead annoying, but she did have a gift for sizing things up with a brutal economy of phasing.
Willow mechanically washed, dried and dressed herself as her mind ran full tilt around all of these things. That busy head of mine, Oz used to say... She headed out into the main part of the dwelling in search of hot, steaming caffeine. The form really didn't matter. At this point she wasn't picky.
Willow made her way across the yard to the kitchen and common room area of the complex. The air was thick and cold. She found herself shuddering as she went. "I should've grabbed my cloak," she whispered to herself softly. Silently, she stole through the doors and worked to prepare a pot of coffee. It was a bit surprising that she was completely alone. It seemed this place always ran on a 24-hour schedule. I expect I won't be alone for long, she anticipated. Someone will have the same need I do and will be quite pleased to see this sitting ready.
She grabbed a large mug and went to have a seat as she listened to the coffee maker labor away. Hearing movement outside, she inclined her head in hopes of discovering who might be coming to offer her a well-needed distraction. Ahhh... It sounds like Miss Hartness. Very good! I could use a bit more of the mentory stuff than the girl-talk. Timing...always a bonus...cuppa first, she thought strolling over to the pot. The subtle voice of her teacher broke the silence in the room moments later.
Sounding a bit agitated, older woman asked, "Willow, are you here? We've looked all over for you," she looked relieved to find the young witch.
"Yup...it's me...right here. Just having a coffee...couldn't sleep," Willow replied.
"I'm really sorry to bother you dear, but we have trouble and it involves those most close to you. I think you will want to leave immediately, so walk with me...bring your cup and drink up," she said, gently urging Willow to hurry.
Willow couldn't control the look of concern that washed over her face, "What's wrong?"
"Our facility in Scotland is under attack and it appears that Buffy is in a magically induced sleep. You are needed...we will work to help support you from here, but I knew you would want to be the one to go when the seers told me," Miss Hartness said in a rushed voice.
With this, Willow nearly spit out her coffee. "Bloody hell!" The British have such a way with words, she chortled over the expletive. On arriving in the room where the coven was working, she paused and placed her cup on a table as Miss Hartness hugged her and led her into the circle.
"Blessed be...and safe journeys to you, Willow." said the older witch.
Willow stepped into the glowing sphere and immediately felt like her breakfast, lunch and dinner, not to mention the coffee, might end up over half of the UK. Traveling this way isn't very fun, but it beats air-travel by plane or worse: traveling by car...yeah...so it's quicker. She steeled herself against the whir of color and light, appearing in the driveway of the Scotland branch of their little operation. Looking around, she saw an army of zombie creatures descending on the castle.
Well, it might just be time for me to be outta here...need to find the source of this. Starting to scan, Willow uttered a phrase under her breath. "Lux lucis ut a pluma." She began to rise off the ground; taking in all of the energy in the fortress as she moved. They were all in Buffy's room. She could feel a familiar presence as she drew nearer. Lifting the latch with the force of her mind, she caught Amy saying in a crisp voice, "...A hundred slayers and there's not one person here who can take me on."
Smiling a bit, Willow replied through the now open window, "As a friend of mine once said...I'd like to test that theory." Merciful Goddess...Amy? Give me locusts and a plague of rats instead...vermin...yes, real vermin next time, she sighed to herself.
**********************
This was the second time tonight that Willow had woken up woozy and not sure where she was. Let me tell you, this is getting old. She thought to herself. She heard that same familiar voice cooing to her in deep satisfaction.
"Great big all-powerful Earth-Mother witch goddess...and she still falls for the rope-a-dope," Amy taunted.
Looking around, Willow realized what was going on. Magical bonds and counter-curses ran around her...no magic to stave off the pending attack...at least no offensive magic. She listened, exploring around her mentally as Amy continued to taunt her.
"Of course, we were contracted to bring in the Slayer, but I'm pretty sure she'll show. Too late, of course..."
Boy, does Amy ever sound smug. Willow looked up defiantly and inquired, "We?" From across the small room an answer to that question came. Warren? Willow struggled a little at the sound.
"I can't tell you how long I've waited for this," his voice hissed in the small surgical laboratory, "Well, I can to the hour. Killing Buffy Summers is gonna be a party. She's pissed me off more than a little, but you Rosenberg...you really got under my skin."
Willow found herself looking up to see something that resembled the cover of a Grey's Anatomy text. This might even be fascinating under different circumstances, she reflected as she watched the sinewy muscles work to hold the bone saw. Okay so, not so much now, echoed an even firmer voice, but it was still fascinating to watch.
Warren continued to speak and Willow couldn't help but stare; not as much a captive as she was captivated. Finding herself unwillingly drawn back to the image of the clearing where she was certain Warren had perished, she heard two familiar words.
"Bored now."
Boy, I need to work out some new material if I ever get all evil again, she chuckled internally trying not to let her face betray her.
"Do you even remember that's what you said? Last two words of my human life, so I remember probably better," Warren rasped.
Willow caught the phrase 'human life' and turned it over in her mind. Interesting word choice... She reached out to touch Warren with her mind, inspecting him as he continued.
"You were upset. Kinda spiraling...is what they say. Which is hey...I mean I'm not excusing where I was at, so don't think...I mean you..." Warren's voice trailed off for a moment. Then continuing he said something that made perfect sense to Willow. She understood the mojo that animated this fiend.
"If Amy hadn't been watching you, she never would have started watching me...watching over me. Do you know she had maybe a four-second window after my skin came off before I died of the shock alone?" Warren seemed very self-satisfied as Willow considered him.
"That flash-paper disappearing trick was pretty hokey. We kid about that, but thinking on your feet? This is the girl!" It was a bit disturbing that he looked completely giddy as he brushed Amy's cheek for effect. Willow lay considering the skinless thing. This was one for the 'what I least want for my birthday' list.
"Her magic is my skin," Willow let Warren finish reflecting to himself.
Yes, it has to be... There's an object involved. A talisman that holds the energy that binds him together. Amy couldn't hold him like this indefinitely so the magick has to be stored in a battery of sorts.
The magicks now perfectly clear to her, she resolved to hear him out. He did seem to be having such a good time and all.
"That time we came up with the spell for you and your new girlfriend...and hey, that was quick. I was still learning to walk again and you're already into the fresh trim, I remember thinking. And it comes up again in this situation. I just have to wonder... Are you bored now?"
Willow couldn't miss the scalpel that was less than an inch from her eye. Warren must have traded in the bone saw while he was running off at the mouth. She rolled what he had said over again in her mind. I remember thinking, and it comes up again in this situation. What could he mean by that? I don't have a girlfriend or...well anyone now... It disturbed her to think that they had been observing her closely enough to know something she didn't...well there must be someone that I don't know about who has feelings for me. That's the only reasonable conclusion.
Okay, well this is fun and all. Nothing like a little reunion to warm the cockles of the heart... What's a cockle anyway? She puzzled as she muttered, "dilapsus." Her body turned to a light blue vapor and floated to the floor just as Warren moved the knife to her eye. Hovering to the corner of the room out of reach, Willow concentrated on firmly projecting her voice from the mist. "callosus." She returned once again to her solid state and then her skin turned hard as stone as she murmured, "evalesco."
Smiling mockingly at their confused faces, she said simply, "I tried to tell Buffy this the night you died... well sorta died..." she corrected. "I'm pretty sure she got it. Now, I suppose I need to ramp you two up to speed. Just because you stop me from doing magicks on you doesn't mean I can't do them on myself. Might wanna try a box next time. Dreadful though... We seem to be out of the realm of next times because I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough to beat you to death."
Moving deftly across the room, she picked up a surgical tray, scattering the instruments across the room. Warren and Amy both gasped in unison. It was so comical that Willow couldn't suppress a laugh. She slung the tray hard, catching Warren across the throat; he crumpled like some vulgar doll, hitting the floor with a satisfying thud. It's fun when they thud, she grinned to herself. Amy next, Willow mused as she grabbed the other witch by the throat before she could utter a sound.
"Funny thing about magicks Amy...you mostly have to be able to speak to use them. Well, you can do some stuff without speaking, but not a witch at your level." She held Amy firmly, picking her up off the floor as she applied pressure to her throat and dug her middle finger into the nerve bundle at the base of Amy's ear.
"You need pain!" Willow spat with a grin as the other witch tried to scream, "But first we need to talk about this walking science fair project. Your boyfriend...how gross is that?" Willow felt her stomach shift a bit at the thought. "Eeewwww", her face filled with disgust, "Desperate much?"
Willow watched closely as Warren started to stir. He was to his feet and lunging at her in a blink. Pretty spry for a dead guy, and he was going to get no less the spry with the beating...she needed to find that charm. She shrugged as Warren tried unsuccessfully to plunge the scalpel between her shoulders. She sighed audibly.
"Warren...Remember the axe dear? That's just not going to work. You need some new material too." Grabbing the bizarrely twisted form of a man, she shoved him into a chair without releasing Amy as she went. Taking the arms of the chair in her left hand she twisted them over his torso, pinning him in place.
"Hey!" she heard Warren gasp as he tried to move to no effect.
"How we feeling, Amy? Getting sleepy yet?" Willow smiled at Warren as she turned her attention to Amy. "Okay then... Where would you put it?" she was trying not to sound too amused. The minute you get overly cocky, someone comes in to smack you down. It was just the way of things and actually the exact mistake these two had made with her. Willow was grateful for one detail: They had taken her to a private little room in hopes of torturing her...or worse... The others that she had seen before she lost consciousness were nowhere to be found. She could feel distant movement, but distant was good.
Willow looked at the other witch, considering her. She would have to put Amy down soon or she'd die. No more of that, Willow thought firmly. I have enough to answer for...to live with. She flung Amy onto the table where she, herself, had lain when this all started and the magical bonds wrapped themselves around their next victim. Rifling through Amy's jeans pockets produced the result she was hoping for. She located a small black silk pouch and shook the contents into her hand. A few herbs and a blood-red crystal fell out. Crushing the herbs, she focused her attention on the crystal.
"So this is it..." Willow felt the smooth rock in her hand as she heard Warren gasp and turned to him again.
"Please don't! I can be a better man!" he pleaded for his life once again.
"Warren, you know if you were actually alive I could never kill you now, but look at yourself for a minute. You're a mess. This is the merciful thing to do. Please find peace in it." Willow felt a tear run down her face despite herself. She said "acclaro" to her right hand in a small voice. The muscle beneath the skin began to bulge slightly as a small chunk of metal pushed its way up through her flesh. Willow winced only slightly as the object worked its way to the surface and the wound closed back over.
"Remember this Warren? I've been carrying this with me as a reminder." Willow held the bullet up to show him.
Steadying herself, Willow reflected, "If I thought that the laws of the human world applied to you now, I'd hand you off to the authorities. But truth-be-told you are my creation and I can't allow you to hurt anyone ever again."
"I'm so sorry." Willow was now weeping openly as she bent down to place the crystal and the bullet on the floor together. She heard Warren let out a gasp as she crushed both with the heel of her boot. Warren slumped onto himself in the chair.
"Okay, now back to you..." Willow sniffed and turned her gaze to the unconscious Amy on the table. "You know, you were a much better rat than person. I guess some people are just gifted that way." She didn't need to ask why. Amy had already given her all the answers she needed when last they met. It was sad to think that greed and jealousy could so completely destroy a person. I need to be able to cast a spell, Willow thought to herself. I wonder where their shamans would be...
She grabbed some surgical tape from a drawer and tore a few strips off. She covered Amy's mouth with them so the other witch couldn't speak when she roused. Satisfied now that the other woman could do her no harm, Willow began to search the building with her mind.
Willow mumbled, "Could it really be that simple? Just down the hall? That's so lame." She repeated the process of flesh to vapor, moving under the door and out into the hallway. Arriving at the correct door in seconds, she slid noiselessly under it. She took a position behind the meditating shamans and repeated vapor to hardened flesh, then strengthen...
Crack!
She grabbed the two shamans and beat their heads together harder than she should have. She heard a faint snap from one of them. I think I broke his jaw...oh well...flesh to vapor again, she thought as she moved back to the room from whence she had come. Willow knew she needed to hurry...Buffy was trying to get to her and the peace of this room was just too good to last long.
Amy was awake and struggling when she returned. Vapor to flesh, Willow whispered the spell. "Good, I was hoping to have an audience for this...considerate of you to wake up for me like that." Willow grinned as she watched the other witch writhe and try to speak through the tape. She must be really wigged that I'm going to kill her. She should know better. Willow cooed at her, "Amy don't fret, hon, I would never kill you."
She paused for a moment, bracing herself over the struggling body and said firmly, "Goddess Hecate, work thy will! Before thee let the unclean thing crawl!" A crackle of blue light and a few bits of particle effect later and Amy was a rat once again. "Constringo" She said quickly in a low tone. With this, the Amy rat was bound in cocoon of glowing blue light. Scooping the rat up, she started shuffling through the drawer frantically. Finally she located a small bag with a handle to place Amy in so she could keep her hands free on the way out.
This is going to be all kinds of no fun...she caught herself thinking as she tossed Amy over her shoulder and ran out of the room.
"Callosus," Willow felt her flesh harden and take on sheen like so much pink marble.
"Evalesco." Stronger than a slayer now, Willow sprinted down the hallway towards the door at its end.
The real problem was going to be...Well okay, problems, she thought fairly. Protecting Amy from being shot...they can put as many rounds into me as they like...
Fact was none of them would break her skin. Now, they would hurt like hell, and she might not walk right for a month or two, but she wouldn't die and that was the big thing. God I hate guns! Willow raged a little inside. What's with that? Can't we all kill each other just fine without propelling little chunks of metal all over the place with chemical reactions? We're so damned stupid sometimes! The witch fumed as she carefully tucked Amy under her arm, trying to protect the little animal as she broke through the door.
The first set of guards she came upon crumpled as she hit them. They fell sleeping, looking a bit like little boys who had been playing GI Joe when their naptime arrived. Wow! Totally stressed...I need to breathe...need to find where that portal was so I can get through it and stop Buffy and the Alpha Team from bursting in. From what I've seen so far, that would be seriously of the bad! This place is huge and there are lots of soldiers. Next pair of guards down, Willow shot out with her mind...If I were a portal, where would I be? She knew that the shamans would be working hard on it and with just a bit of juice from her side it would be a no-brainer to pop it open.
Through the next set of doors and another pair of guards on the floor, she entered a cavernous room. This is it, but Goddess! Look at all the people! There's an army in this room! They haven't noticed me yet but...wow! There it is, she thought, and began to move purposefully toward the charged point at the far end of the large room.
Reaching the spot she needed at a full sprint, she shouted, "Erruptum!" The portal cracked to life, as did the entire room. There was a blaze of gunfire as she burst through the entry, head first, quickly snapping, "Claudo!" in her wake. Slamming shut with force, the portal threw her into the new room. She crashed into the shamans and was sent rolling to Buffy's feet in a summersault.